Porous ceramic matrices have gained remarkable popularity in various industrial applications (e.g., catalysis support and water treatment) due to their thermal and chemical stability in severe environments, such as high temperatures, redox atmospheres, and corrosive liquids, as well as their mechanical reliability and durability.
Many techniques have been developed to prepare porous ceramic matrices. See Chevalier, J. Pharm. Sci., 97(3), 1135-1154, 2008. Among them, use of polymer pore-forming fillers remains a popular choice in ceramic processing, in view of their low costs and easy removal by thermal decomposition. However, self-coiling and aggregation tendency of polymer fillers could result in low permeability of the porous ceramic matrices prepared by this method, as the polymer fillers might fail to form a continuous phase. Such a problem can be resolved by increasing loadings of polymer fillers, but at the cost of mechanical properties of the ceramic matrices.
There is a need for preparing porous ceramic matrices with desired permeability and mechanical properties.